In the heart of Napa Valley, a couple haunted by the tragic loss of their neighbors to a devastating wildfire have taken a bold step towards safety. They have designed a fireproof backyard bunker, ingeniously crafted to endure temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
Known as “Fort,” this innovative shelter was born from the terrifying experiences of the Atlas Fire in October 2017. This catastrophic blaze wreaked havoc across Napa County, scorching over 51,000 acres, obliterating 783 structures, and tragically taking six lives.
Linda Cantey, an accomplished aerospace engineer and consultant, recounted the night of the disaster. She and her husband were completely unaware of the inferno that was closing in on their neighborhood as they slept.
“We were sound asleep when that thing came ripping through our neighborhood,” Cantey shared in an interview with the BBC.
The couple’s sense of urgency only kicked in when their home phone rang, jolting them awake to an already dire situation. With their cellphone on silent, they had missed earlier alerts. By the time they awoke, their canyon was a blazing furnace.
“By the time somebody called our home phone and woke us up… the entire canyon was full of flames, and we could see across the canyon that every single house over there was already on fire,” Cantey vividly recalled.
The couple escaped, but one elderly pair on their street did not. According to Cantey, the couple had been ready to leave but lost power and didn’t know another way to open their garage door after the outage.
The tragedy stayed with her.
After the fire, Cantey joined local fire-safety advisory boards and approached a mining company she consults for that specializes in underground refuge chambers. She wanted to know whether similar technology could be adapted to help people trapped by wildfires.
The result was Fort, an above-ground refuge that resembles a backyard shed but is built with fire-resistant materials and doors. The structure can accommodate up to eight people and their valuables while providing breathable air for up to 4 hours.
“If it wasn’t for Linda, we wouldn’t have built this, I don’t think,” Josh Behling, president of Wildfire Safety Systems and one of the refuge’s inventors, told the outlet.
The bunkers start at $60,000 and are intended as a last resort rather than an alternative to evacuation. To prove confidence in the product, Cantey and Fort’s CEO even volunteered to sit inside during live-fire testing while firefighters stood by.
Fort is one of several businesses attempting to address the growing wildfire threat.
Among them is HiberTec Homes, a company developing hydraulic houses that can disappear underground within minutes. Founder Holden Forrest said he came up with the idea after the Woolsey Fire destroyed roughly 1,200 homes near Malibu.
He first sketched the concept on the back of his 9-year-old daughter’s homework and expected an architect to “laugh me out of the room.” Instead, the idea evolved into a patented system. The company estimates a 1,000-square-foot home would cost about $1.2 million, with the first units expected by 2030.
Demand is also growing for more traditional fire-mitigation efforts. Colorado entrepreneur Kimberly Jones has expanded her goat-grazing operation from 25 animals to 250, using them to clear vegetation that can fuel wildfires.
“They’re afraid,” Jones said of homeowners seeking the service. “They’re really afraid.”
One wildfire last year stopped about 100 yards from a property her goats had cleared just 17 days earlier, added Jones.
For Cantey, helping create Fort has become part of the healing process after witnessing the devastation left behind by the Atlas Fire.
“It’s therapy for all of us, because what we’ve witnessed, and what we’ve experienced, we wouldn’t want anybody else to go through,” she said.
“But it’s going to keep happening.”
